Adrian M Balch reports from Kemble, Gloucestershire on Air Salvage International which has 20 years experience in aircraft disassembly.
Record rates of airliner production by Boeing and Airbus almost inevitably leads to an equally high level of aircraft withdrawals. Worldwide, around 600 passenger aircraft are retired from service each year.
Most go to Marana, Mojave, Goodyear, Victorville, Kingman and Roswell in the southwestern USA; all are swollen with vintage jets of the 1980s and 1990s that have no future in the skies. Break-up rates at these places is comparatively slow, since there is no pressing need to re-use the space occupied by an old jet.
It’s a different story in the UK. Storage capacity is often at a premium, leading recyclers to work at a much more rapid pace to salvage parts and chop up withdrawn airliners.
Bruntingthorpe Airfield in Leicestershire, and Cotswold Airport (Kemble), near Cirencester, are the prime airliner ‘retirement homes’ in the UK.
ANNIVERSARY
Air Salvage International (ASI), at Kemble, was a hive of activity when the author visited. The company is a globally respected provider of professional asset management services to banks, lessors, insurance companies and airlines.
